


Repressed Memory

by Cait_Sidhe



Series: The Accidental Vampire [11]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Blood, Blood and Gore, Child Abuse, Childhood Memories, Children, De-Aged Characters, Destiny Islands (Kingdom Hearts), Dream Eater Link (Kingdom Hearts), Dream Eater Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gummiphones (Kingdom Hearts), Human/Vampire Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Lucid Dreaming, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts III, POV Riku (Kingdom Hearts), POV Sora (Kingdom Hearts), POV Third Person Limited, Paopu Fruit (Kingdom Hearts), Protective Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Rage-form Sora, Recovered Memories, Riku Loves Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Sora Loves Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Vampire Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:41:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29006988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cait_Sidhe/pseuds/Cait_Sidhe
Summary: Riku unexpectedly finds himself in Sora's dream—specifically, a nightmare about a mostly-suppressed childhood memory. Before Riku can do anything, the memory shifts to a true nightmare as—despite Sora being a child in the dream—Rage-Form decides to make an appearance, interrupting the memory in the most brutal way possible.After calming the form, Riku takes Sora to their paopu tree for the remainder of the dream. There, Sora realizes that if it's a dream, he can eat actual food despite being a vampire, meaning that the two can finally share a certain fruit...(can be understood with minimal knowledge of this AU; the notes have what you need to know)
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: The Accidental Vampire [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777057
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	Repressed Memory

**Author's Note:**

> I inadvertently lied at the end of the last fic; this is not the one where the heart people are revived. I came up with the idea after I said that, and apologize to those looking forwards to that. Hopefully this will make up for it!
> 
> Despite this being somewhat of a follow-up to the previous fic, with the events in that one directly related, I believe this is comprehensible without knowing much about my vampire AU. All you essentially need to know is that Sora is a vampire and in the last fic Donald got in trouble for frequently hurting Sora and Goofy, which triggered a vague memory of a similar, though much worse, incident in Sora's past: namely, that his dad had been extremely abusive before he left the family, to a level so great that Sora had repressed most of those memories.
> 
> The first third of this, which involves the memory, is very graphically violent (rage-form doesn't pull punches, and the dream exaggerates the effects of it), but the rest is fairly fluffy.

Riku gave a shout as he was abruptly torn out of his dream, which had been about something already fading from his mind. He sat up and frantically looked around, breathing heavily in panic. What had woken him so suddenly? Was something attacking? But, he was alone… 

Oh! Riku could have smacked himself. Of course! The link. The panicked emotions were from his dream-eater link with Sora, something he recognized easily from countless times before: a nightmare (an understandably common occurrence in their line of work). As Sora’s dream-eater, it was Riku’s job to soothe that nightmare—which he’d need to do from a distance, as Sora was currently away on an overnight mission with Lea and Kairi. Admittedly Riku was a little jealous they got to go but he couldn’t (unfortunately, the ban on Riku and Sora travelling together was still in effect, so Riku had been left out) even though it was only a simple supply run in preparation for more people training at the Tower, as they assumed would happen once Sora and Kairi got their heart people freed in a few days (the fridge might provide unlimited food, but to everyone’s surprise things like training equipment, bed sheets, towels, toothbrushes, etc. were not created by the Tower itself, rather were pulled from a gigantic supply closet that had been quite full when the current apprentices moved in but now was drastically low—definitely not enough to provide for four more people. Whether they’d stay for long or not was unknown, but they’d at least be staying a few nights. Why the Tower could make things like beds, tables, and chairs out of thin air but couldn’t manage blankets was a mystery to them all; Sora had asked about it, wondering if those things had a closet too, but the Tower truly did make those itself. Even Yen Sid didn’t know why those were created but other things weren’t). 

Riku took a deep breath as he sent soothing feelings of comfort and love down their link, willing the nightmare to shift into a good dream. When nothing happened at first (it was more difficult to do when further apart), Riku laid down and closed his eyes, willing all his focus onto the link and sending waves of calmness down it…

Riku opened his eyes and gasped as a sudden wave of vertigo washed over him. All around him swirled bright light in a myriad of colors (some of which Riku wasn't sure even existed), followed seconds later by an abrupt darkness and a THUMP as Riku landed butt-first on hard concrete.

Once Riku’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and the vertigo faded, he took in his surroundings. It was evening, just after dusk, and he was on a sidewalk leading to a house… Wait, he knew this house… Sora’s, back on the Islands? How would he have gotten—oh.

Riku was in Sora’s dream.

“That’s new,” Riku muttered to himself, contemplating what that meant. Clearly this was a dream-eater ability. That also must be how he was so certain this was a dream, since otherwise it was extremely realistic… but why here? Where was Sora?

The brunette must be inside the house, Riku concluded, as no one was outside and there was a window of light on the first floor, where Riku knew Sora’s living room to be. There was a curtain covering it, but there were shadowy silhouettes indicating people were there: two larger figures, obviously adults, and a third much smaller… a child?

Wait… this house wasn't quite as it should be. The garden out front was too small; that (very ugly) picket fence had been long torn down; the porch no longer had a swing… this was from the past. Long in the past. Was this dream inspired by a memory? In that case, the people were—

A shrill scream sounded from said window.

“Sora!” Riku shouted, rushing into the house, finding that thankfully no key was needed.

No one seemed to notice Riku as he rushed into the room, freezing momentarily as he processed the scene. The scream must have been from the woman—Sora’s mom—who was now lying unconscious on the floor, a bloody gash on her forehead, no doubt from the broken bottle held by the man. Sora’s dad tightly held the upper arm of a crying six-year-old Sora who, like his mom, was covered in bruises as well as what looked like cigarette burns. Sora was crying, trying to get to his mother while his father held him back. This must be the memory of when Sora’s father had left (via running before the police could arrest him; Riku wasn’t sure if he’d ever been found or not), a memory that until now Sora had blocked out.

Riku darted over to Sora, calling his name as his father threw the boy onto the floor, but before he could reach Sora the atmosphere shifted, changing from a memory to a clear dream as the child bared his fangs, eyes turned gold, and darkness burst out of him before it settled into a cloak.

Crouching in the middle of the room was a child version of Sora in his vampiric rage-form.

Before Riku could blink, Sora sprung towards his father, tearing deep into the flesh of the man’s neck with his fangs… but this was a dream, so it went even further than that, further than (hopefully) normally would be possible as Sora’s claws of darkness encircled the man’s throat and with a tearing sound easily pulled the man’s head right off, blood spurting everywhere, covering the room in an exaggerated manner and amount, proper physics warped by the dream.

But Sora didn’t stop there. Sora drove his hand right into the man’s chest, then began pulling out organs and ripping limbs off. Riku stared in aghast horror at the scene (well, fantasies of utterly destroying those that had hurt you was one way to deal with trauma, Riku supposed), unsure if he should try to stop it or not.

Then, Sora turned on his mother, still unconscious. He growled, a deep animalistic sound as he crept towards her on hands and feet, clearly intending to do the same to her.

“Whoa, hey, Sora,” Riku said, stepping between them and crouching down with his hands out in a gesture of peace. “Come on, time to calm down now.”

The vampire ignored Riku and leapt straight at him. Riku braced himself…

Only for Sora to go straight through Riku as though he were a ghost. Riku turned away as the boy bit into the neck of his mother, clearly intending to give her the same treatment as his father.

Riku stood and processed the situation as he tried ignoring the vicious sounds from behind him. So he’d been able to enter Sora’s dream, but had no power to interfere with it? That wasn’t very helpful.

The vampire child paced around the room on all fours, clearly agitated yet unsure what to do now that there were no humans around. The cloak wasn’t dissipating despite there being no darkness around to absorb, and Riku had a feeling it wouldn’t vanish on its own, not in this dream. Riku had to do something!

So, Riku tried sending soothing feelings down the link again.

Sora swerved around to face Riku, growling and bearing fangs, clearly able to see him now and undoubtedly still feeling aggressive.

Well, shit.

Riku dodged as Sora tried tackling him, fangs out and seemingly intending to do the same to him as he had with his parents, unaware he was a friend—Riku knew Sora couldn’t easily remember anyone while in this state, but it still hurt to not be recognized at all (this must have been what Kairi, Donald, and Goofy had felt like when Sora attacked them in Monstropolis).

“Hey, settle down, Sora!” Riku pleaded, standing facing the boy with his hands in front of him again.

Riku tried to think what he should do. Fight? Try to reason? Cuddle with Sora? He couldn’t go as far as he had in Monstropolis, due to this Sora being a child. Wait… if this Sora was a child, did this mean he didn’t know who Riku was at all, and wouldn’t even if not in rage-form? Oh. But in that case, what could he do? He couldn’t be… wait, this was a dream, right? Then—

Riku had barely given the thought form when he suddenly felt himself shift, finding he was much closer to the floor and in clothes ten sizes too big. Okay, so now he was his childhood self, too. As to the clothes… Riku concentrated, then found his clothes were the right size. Nice; he could influence the dream! But to what extent? Riku focused on the Play Island, on bringing them there, as it’d certainly be more soothing for Sora…

Nothing happened. So, the control Riku had was limited to his appearance. Still, better than nothing.

Sora, on his part, had frozen. Although still in rage-form, the vampire child now looked confused as he stared at Riku. Okay, that was good; as he suspected, the lack of recognition earlier had been due to Riku’s age.

“Sora?” Riku tried, briefly surprised when his voice came out an octave or two higher than usual. Right, child.

Sora simply kept staring at Riku.

Riku took a deep breath and then cautiously began walking to Sora, using slow deliberate movements so as to not startle the darkness-cloaked boy (and because he found it awkward to move; he really needed a moment to adjust to this body, but there simply wasn't time). Thankfully Sora stayed still, opting to simply warily watch Riku. Finally Riku reached Sora, upon which he put a hand on the brunette’s shoulder.

Sora growled slightly, but otherwise didn’t react, so Riku cautiously put his other hand on Sora’s other shoulder and then drew him in close before gently encircling Sora with his arms. Sora froze, but thankfully allowed the hug. As Riku held Sora tightly, the brunette began to relax, and slowly the darkness dissipated, leaving an unconscious Sora in its wake.

Riku’s heart skipped a few beats, recalling a certain previous time when Sora had fallen into a sleep inside a dream. Was it dangerous? This wasn’t a darkness-induced sleep, so hopefully not… Would Sora simply wake up after this, or would Riku have to do something again? Riku wasn’t sure which would be best. Waking up would cause Sora to be thrown back to wherever Kairi and Lea were, away from Riku, scared. Maybe Riku could wake Sora and keep him in the dream… but if Sora woke here, it’d be to a scene of carnage.

Riku gently picked Sora up and laid him on the nearby couch (relieved that despite the child's body he still was strong enough to do that), then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He focused on cleaning up the scene, hoping he could affect the environment at least a little bit. Riku nervously opened his eyes and then gave a deep sigh—it had worked. The living room was perfectly free of torn corpses and blood, and turning to Sora Riku found that the brunette too was free of blood and injury.

To Riku’s further relief, Sora appeared to be waking up as Riku knelt on the floor beside the couch, opting to hold Sora’s hand in a comforting gesture. He wondered if Sora would still be a child or if he would retain his memories of being a teenager. He was still a vampire (Sora slept with his mouth slightly open, revealing the fangs), so hopefully it’d be the latter.

“Ngh… what’s going on?” Sora muttered as his eyes fluttered open, nearly instantly falling on Riku. “Riku? Why are you here? Where are—” Sora cut himself off with a gasp as he noticed their location. “We’re back on the Islands? Why?” Okay, that was good—Sora did remember everything, unlike when he was in rage-form and despite them both looking like children. “Wait, why are you a kid?” Sora suddenly wondered, alerting Riku to the fact that Sora probably remembered none of the prior dream events.

“What do you remember?” Riku asked.

“Um… We were in Arendelle, Yen Sid specifically wanted the blankets to be from a store there… then we went to a hotel… oh! Is this a dream?” Sora asked, thankfully catching on. “So you’re not really here… but wait, I know it’s a dream?” Sora looked immensely confused as he sat up. Riku hopped onto the couch next to Sora.

“I think it’s a dream-eater thing,” Riku explained. “You were having a nightmare.”

“Oh,” Sora said, easily accepting that, then paused for a moment before asking, “Does this happen often? Where you’re in my dream,” he clarified.

Riku shook his head. “No, this is the first time. Usually I just send comforting feelings down the link and your nightmare calms.”

“So that’s how you’ve been doing it!” Sora exclaimed. “I was wondering that… but then, why are you here this time? Was the dream worse than usual or something?”

Riku shook his head. “No idea. I don’t usually see the dreams, although I can get a sense of when they’re particularly bad. But this one…” Riku debated how much to say about it.

“But what?” Sora prodded. “Riku, no secrets, remember?”

Right, he had agreed to that. “I think this one was a memory, at least at first,” Riku informed the brunette.

“A memory?”

“Yeah. About.. Well…”

“About my dad?” Sora whispered.

“You remember?”

“Not really,” Sora admitted. “I just get a feeling that was it. And it makes sense, right? Yesterday we talked about it. People often dream of things they’ve been thinking about—it was bugging me that I couldn’t remember it well.”

“That’s true,” Riku conceded.

“So, did you see it all?” Sora asked.

“No, not the beginning. And then it shifted into something that was definitely a dream, which I’m not sure was a good or bad thing, considering…”

“Considering?”

“Well, it was rage-form. Obviously that didn’t happen, unless there’s something you’re not telling me,” Riku teased.

Sora laughed, the joke working. “No, I didn’t go into rage-form as a kid, thankfully,” Sora said, then cringed. “I bet that was pretty bad, huh? If I was a kid? Well, still kinda am.”

Riku shrugged. “Not that bad, honestly. A bit different, but I still was able to calm you.”

“So, what happened before that?” Sora wondered. “Something must have triggered it.”

Riku shifted uncomfortably. “Well… er… you sure you want to know?” Riku asked, voice pleading.

Sora looked Riku in the eyes, expression adamant. “Yes. Riku, I need to know this. I need to know what happened, even though I know it was bad. I know yesterday I said I was fine not knowing, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot; I want to know. Need to know.”

Riku nodded, understanding that. He too would be bothered if there were a bad memory he could only barely remember, whether it would be the best to know or not. “Okay. Not here though; let’s go to our tree.”

***

Sora stood in front of the Paopu tree, staring up at it. It was so much bigger than it used to be! Well, he was in a child’s body. Could he climb up?

“Here, I’ll help,” Riku said from behind Sora. He turned, eyes widening as he saw the silverette was back in his teenage form.

“How’d you do that?!” Sora said with a gasp.

Riku shrugged. “I dunno. Might be another dream-eater thing? I was able to change from a teen to kid before, although it didn’t work when I tried to make you a teen. Or, maybe it’s a dream thing? You try. Just, concentrate.”

Sora closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on becoming a teen again. He opened his eyes, only to find Riku still towering above him. “It didn’t work,” Sora lamented.

“Okay, I gotcha,” Riku said. Sora squeaked as Riku’s hands curled his waist, easily lifting Sora onto the trunk of the sideways tree.

Riku then jumped up next to Sora and shifted back to his child form as well, to Sora’s relief (and slight amusement, as the clothes took a few seconds to change to the right size after Riku had changed)—it would have felt awkward being different ages (well, more than the usual one-year difference, that is).

“Okay, so tell me what happened,” Sora demanded. Riku couldn’t avoid the subject forever.

Sora listened to Riku’s explanation, becoming more and more incredulous as Riku went on. The silverette seemed nervous at many points, but to Sora’s relief did explain everything, including what Sora had done in rage-form. Sora found this highly disturbing; thank goodness it was a dream and not reality! Then again… Sora felt something cathartic about it as he remembered more incidents like what happened during the memory the dream had been based upon. His dad deserved it. Maybe not his mom though, even though she had also been more problematic than Sora had ever liked to admit (growing up, he knew most parents didn’t act like she did, or have that many problems, but Sora had chosen to shove that knowledge away, tell himself it wasn’t that bad until he returned briefly to the Islands and found she’d… well, honestly, it hadn’t been worse, rather he had a clear lens. Not that he ever let anyone know that! Riku probably knew or suspected though). But it hadn’t been entirely her fault—his dad had caused her to turn to drinking to cope with everything. Knowing he was stronger than his dad, even if it were only in a dream (although in reality it’d be the same, even without rage-form, being a keyblade-wielding vampire), felt good. There was nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Sora sat quietly for a long while after Riku finished, contemplating it all. Sora found that somewhere along the way he’d leaned into Riku’s side, the silverette’s arm around his shoulders. Riku was patient with Sora, waiting for him to say something first, giving him the time to process it, but eventually spoke up.

“You okay?" Riku asked, voice gentle but laced with an underlying note of worry.

Sora nodded with his head leaning on Riku’s shoulder. “Yeah, it’s just a lot; I started remembering other things, not just the dream,” he revealed, a little distantly, only half-aware of things. Dissociating? Could that happen in a dream? Sora mentally shook himself, relieved that he could snap out of the budding daze this time.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Riku wondered.

“Not much to say,” Sora revealed. “Pretty much more of the same as you saw. Well, maybe not usually to that extent. But still, bad enough to have blocked out.”

“What about emotions? How do you feel about it?”

Sora blew air through his nose. “Seriously? You a therapist now?” Sora asked, though his tone was teasing (he actually appreciated how Riku, unlike everyone else, noticed his feelings and did what he could to help). 

Riku stroked Sora’s hair. “No. Just want to help you however I can.”

“Sometimes it seems like you’re too loyal,” Sora teased with a smile. “Like a pet or something.”

Riku blushed at that, to Sora’s delight. “I’m not—Sora! Come on…”

“You know what, I like that,” Sora decided, milking the subject for all its fun. “Vampires sometimes have pet humans, right? You can be mine,” he told Riku cheerfully.

“Hey!” Riku protested, though he was laughing. “Besides, I’m a dream-eater, not human.”

“Oh, right. Then you’re already mine,” Sora said. “Right? Dream-eaters are like pets, kinda.”

“Partners,” Riku corrected.

“No, pretty sure they’re closer to pets.”

Riku sighed. “Do I have a choice in this?”

“Nope!” Sora declared cheerfully, then laughed at Riku’s embarrassed expression. “Oh, come on, Riku. You know I’m teasing.”

“I know,” Riku said quickly. “I just, um.”

A thought occurred to Sora, and he grinned slyly at Riku. “Wait… don’t tell me you like that idea. Got a fetish you’re not telling me about? Other than the obvious vampire fetish.”

Riku buried his face in his hands. “So-ra!” he whined. “Come on, seriously?”

Sora began laughing, finding it hilarious that he’d discovered this after such a traumatic incident and heavy discussion, while in kid form.

Riku caught that thought and quickly said, “Okay, let’s not discuss this now, okay? Not when we’re kids. It’s awkward.”

Sora calmed his laughter. “Okay, fine,” he easily agreed, realizing the same—fetishes were not a good topic to discuss when in the body of a child, despite their actual mental age, even if it was just a dream (Sora would definitely be bringing it up later though—wait, if this was a dream, was this Riku a dream too? Maybe he shouldn't bring it up in reality, rather wait for Riku to, if he truly did feel that way). Then, Sora realized something else, causing him to become excited again. “Hey, Riku! If this is a dream, does that mean I can actually eat human food without getting sick?”

Riku blinked. “Um… I’m not sure. Maybe? We don’t have any food here though.”

“Yes we do!” Sora declared, thrusting his right arm up and gesturing to something above them and slightly to his right.

Riku’s eyes followed the line of Sora’s arm towards where he was pointing. “A paopu fruit?”

“Yeah! We never got to share one. You wanted to before the Islands fell, right?” Sora recalled.

“You remember that?” Riku asked with incredulity. “But you threw it away,” he continued, sounding hurt.

Sora rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You threw it at me! You know how oblivious I used to be. I had no idea what you meant at the time, especially because what you said was so occluse.”

“You mean, ‘obtuse’?” Riku corrected, and Sora tried not to sigh at that (people correcting him all the time was so annoying! Even though he knew it was better to be corrected than mistakenly using the wrong word for forever, which truly was a possibility now). “I guess it was,” Riku admitted.

“Why?” Sora wondered. “If you just said outright you wanted to, I would have agreed. No need to be so vague.”

Riku blushed at that. “I… I guess I was kinda embarrassed,” he admitted nervously. “I thought you liked Kairi, and threw it at you because I was afraid of being rejected outright.”

“Well, that was stupid,” Sora said bluntly.

Riku laughed a little at that. “Yeah, I agree. I was pretty stupid back then. As you told me before.”

Sora shrugged. “Well, you were. So am—was—I. We were young and inexperienced.”

Sora had a feeling Riku had noticed that Sora had almost said it in present tense, but thankfully let it slide and instead responded to the latter comment with, “Technically we’re still young and inexperienced.”

“Pfft. Says the ‘Master’.”

“You should be one too.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” said Sora, waving a hand. They’d had that conversation before. “So, we gonna share that fruit, or what?”

“Of course,” Riku said with a smile, holding out a fruit to Sora.

“What! Where did you get that!?” Sora exclaimed. “I didn’t see you move! I’m the one with super-speed, and can’t even move that fast!”

“I didn’t move. This is a dream, remember?” Riku explained. “I conjured it.”

“Really? Neat!” Sora declared, all other thoughts flying away at this new discovery. “Ooooh, think we can make other foods, too? I want to eat chocolate again! The round ones with the cream filling!” Sora closed his eyes and imagined holding a box of them, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes and sighed in disappointment. “Man, I can’t do that, either!”

“Huh. Maybe because you’re not a dream-eater?” Riku wondered, then conjured a box of chocolates for Sora.

Sora accepted the red heart-shaped box. “Seriously?” he said with amusement, in reference to the design.

Riku blushed. “That’s just the way those chocolates come!” the silverette argued. “At least, the brand you like. They only ever appear around Valentine's day so look the part.”

Sora beamed, overjoyed. “Aww, you even remembered the brand I like? Ri-ku! Best boyfriend ever!” Sora excitedly threw his arms around Riku… and as he did so, the box flew out of his hand and into the water below. Sora withdrew from Riku and looked down at it sadly. “Aww, man.”

“It’s okay. I can make more,” Riku quickly said, conjuring up a second box.

Now it was Sora’s turn to blush. “You’re such a sap,” Sora muttered, though accepted the box and immediately popped it open before he could drop it again. He examined the box top to figure out which one was his favorite cream-filled one, and selected that piece while Riku snagged a caramel one. Sora immediately popped it in his mouth. “This is so good!” he moaned through the mouthful of chocolate.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Riku chided with a small chuckle as he much more slowly ate his via little bites rather than shoving it in his mouth like Sora had.

Sora swallowed, and then waited a minute, kicking his feet back and forth as he watched Riku eat his own candy (it still felt so strange, seeing Riku in his younger form and him being in such too. It truly felt like they had gone back in time nearly ten years prior). Usually, he would start to feel nauseous right away, but this time, he didn’t seem to be. Sora plucked another candy from the box, which was now sitting on Riku’s lap.

“Don’t eat too many, just in case,” Riku warned.

“I know, I’m being careful,” Sora assured the silverette. Then, he had a sudden thought. “Hey! If my parents were here, do you think yours would be too?” he asked Riku. “Let’s find out!”

Riku took a moment to respond, looking like he was a bit thrown off by the sudden change of topic (which he really shouldn’t be, considering how often Sora did such). “Um… Maybe that’s not a good idea right now.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because dreams don’t last forever and we still need to share the fruit,” Riku reminded Sora.

“Oh, right! Let’s do that now. Then we can try lots of other foods!”

“Right,” Riku agreed, putting the chocolates off to the side, exchanging them with the star-shaped fruit. “So, how do you want to do this?”

Sora stared at the fruit, pondering that (How should they? It was such a difficult decision! There were so many options! Well, maybe simple was best). “Let’s just split it in half,” he decided.

“Okay, got it,” Riku agreed, then grabbed the fruit and squeezed, trying to split it. Instead, juice spurted from the tip, squirting Riku in the face. He blinked a few times to get it out of his eyes, then wiped his face with his shirt.

Sora giggled. “Okay, guess that won’t work. Can you conjure a knife?”

“How about we just do this,” Riku offered, holding the fruit in front of Sora’s face.

“Huh?”

“Bite it,” Riku instructed with a small blush (so adorable!).

Oh, duh; Sora could have smacked himself. “Okay,” he quickly agreed, then leaned forwards slightly and bit the tip off one of the star’s points.

Riku then did the same, choosing the same point Sora had bitten off. Sora found himself blushing again (somehow, that felt especially intimate, even though they’d been sharing food and drinks for as long as they’d known each other and Sora’s current diet consisted mostly of Riku’s blood). The two took turns eating the sweet, succulent fruit, with Sora eventually insisting he get a turn to feed Riku too, until it was all gone.

When they were finished, Sora smiled brightly. “I’ve been wanting to share a paopu fruit with you ever since I realized how romantic it’s supposed to be!” he gushed. “I mean, I guess technically the legend doesn’t say it is, but most people think it is, right? But then the whole vampire thing happened, and I couldn’t eat normal food, so I resigned myself to it not happening, but now it did! This is awesome!”

“Shhh,” Riku said, putting a finger to Sora’s lips to hair the mini-rant. “I get it, Sora. I feel the same.”

“Ri-ku!” Sora chimed, grabbing the silverette around the waist.

“Ack!” Riku shouted as he scrambled to stabilize them; Sora’s momentum had nearly knocked them off the tree!

“Oops,” Sora said, grinning up at Riku, then he sighed. “Too bad this is a dream,” he lamented. He really wanted to share it with the real Riku, not a dream one he conjured…

“Why’s that make any difference?” Riku wondered, looking perplexed. “The sentiment is the same.”

“I guess,” Sora mumbled into Riku’s chest. Dream-Riku must have not realized he was a dream (or, was he? He said it was a dream-eater thing… but why would the ability have taken so long to manifest? No, it must have been wistful thinking on Sora’s part, causing him to conjure him).

“You okay?” Riku wondered, sounding worried.

“Ngh… I think I’m waking up now,” Sora realized, his eyes falling shut.

Sora blinked up at the ceiling of his room, slightly confused. Where was he…? Oh, right. He was in a hotel, alone (they’d gotten single rooms, unlike when he’d travelled with Donald and Goofy, who always complained about the cost of getting individual ones even though they could more than afford such thanks to all the munny heartless and nobodies dropped)… Sora felt lonely without Riku by his side. Sora sighed, rolling over to his side as he contemplated that. He’d missed Riku so much that he’d dreamed—

RIIIIINGGGG!

Sora gave a start as his GummiPhone rang. He pawed around the night stand until he grabbed it, fumbling a little as he pulled it over to answer it. “Hello?” he mumbled, still sleepy.

Riku appeared on the screen. “Hey, are you okay?” he quickly asked.

“What? Yeah, of course,” Sora said with a frown.

“Okay, it’s just—wait, can you turn a light on first? I can barely see you.”

“Oh, right,” Sora said, reaching over to the bedside lamp and switching it on. He often forgot most people didn’t have night vision (although it wasn't actually night right now, according to the nightstand's clock; the curtains were just closed and very thick).

“Thanks. You just seemed a little sad,” Riku commented.

“Oh. Well, I had a dream where we shared a paopu fruit,” Sora revealed.

Riku chuckled. “I know, I was there,” he said with an amused smile.

Sora gasped and abruptly sat up. “You mean, it wasn’t a dream-you in there? You were really there?!”

Riku blinked, looking a little surprised at the reaction. “Yeah, didn’t I tell you that?”

“I thought it was my subconscious putting you there because I really missed you,” Sora admitted, feeling his face flush slightly. “I mean, it never happened before.”

“So that’s why you were sad?” Riku ventured. “Because you didn’t think it was real?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah. I was thinking about how nice it was, and thought about how I couldn't share one with you in reality… but!” Sora perked up. “You were actually there after all! So we did share one.”

“Yes, we did,” Riku said with a fond smile. “I’d been meaning to ask you to share one—like, actually ask, not throw it at you—before the vampire thing, right when we got back to the Islands after fighting Xemnas, but I chickened out. Then you became a vampire, and I gave up on the idea.”

“I would have shared it anyway, if you asked,” Sora told Riku.

Riku shook his head. “No, I didn’t want you getting sick because of it. Besides, we already have a bond stronger than a fruit legend,” he pointed out.

“You mean, the vampire-pet dynamic?” Sora teased, even though he knew what Riku meant.

Riku laughed. “I mean the dream-eater thing,” he clarified.

Sora laughed too. “I know, I know. Just messing with you.” Then, he had an idea. “Hey, do you think we could do that again? You visiting my dreams, that is. But maybe not as children next time.”

“Hmm. Good question,” Riku mused. “I can try. I’m not entirely sure how I did it this time, though; I was just sending comforting feelings down the link, and when they weren’t helping like usual, I tried making them stronger, then I was there.”

“So, it’s concentration, then?”

“Maybe.”

“Then, try that next time!” Sora instructed. “Concentrate really hard on being in the dream instead of just sending feelings, and maybe then you can be in my dream again!”

“Sure, I can try that,” Riku easily agreed, then yawned. “I think it might count as me being awake though. I’m feeling awfully tired, and Aqua’s going to train me tomorrow—she likes to be up super early.”

“Oh no!” Sora said, suddenly feeling immensely guilty. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to keep you up! I—”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Riku quickly interjected. “I don’t mind losing a little sleep if it means you’re safe.”

Sora felt himself blush; it was a kind gesture, but still didn’t assuage the guilt. But despite that he said, “Thanks, Riku. I really appreciate that… I better let you get some sleep, though. It’s already morning here but I guess it’s still night for you? Anyway I’ll see you tomorrow night, your time, okay? Wait, no, the next morning? I can never figure out the time differences.”

“Yup, see you tomorrow night,” Riku confirmed with a smile. “Love you, Sora.”

“Love you too,” Sora said before he hung up the phone. He flopped back down, snuggling back under the bed's comfy covers while still holding the phone, thinking about everything that had just occurred.

“Sora!” came a voice from the door as someone knocked. Sora cringed, expecting Donald, then realized that the knock was softer and the voice more human. Right, he’d come here with Kairi and Lea, the latter who had been the one to speak. “You awake?” Lea asked. “If you are, we’re going to be downstairs at the hotel’s continental breakfast.” 

Kairi added, “We’ll be back in about a half hour; if you’re not awake by then, I’m busting down the door.”

Sora hopped up, activating his vampire speed (thankfully it worked; he could do it a little more on command now, but it still was hit-or-miss) to reach the door, which he opened. “Don’t worry, I’m up,” he told the two. “I’ll get showered and dressed and meet you down there.”

“You don’t have to,” Kairi said. “I know you don’t eat our food.”

Sora shook his head. “No, it’s fine; I don’t mind. Plus, I have something really neat to tell you!” Sora said with a smile.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Lea wondered.

“I’ll tell you when we’re down there,” Sora said, then closed the door. He just knew Kairi (and maybe Lea as well) was going to be super excited about Riku’s newfound power.

Sora scrambled over to grab his magical clothes from the dresser top (that’s where everything was stored, in lieu of a suitcase—magical pockets truly were amazing!) and into the en-suite bathroom, happy that they’d gotten such a fancy hotel (the Tower, despite being a magical building, preferred smaller, cramped antique-style bathrooms). As he stepped into the large tub and started the shower, Sora contemplated on the morning. He had woken on his own and Lea had knocked and spoken quietly enough that if Sora had still been asleep, he wouldn’t have woken. It was a strange contrast to how he’d often been woken when sleeping during a mission during the two years (well, one, as he slept through a year) that he had travelled exclusively with Donald and Goofy—namely, by loud squawking and Donald bursting through the door, often giving Sora a whack with his staff or a thunder spell if he didn’t get up quickly enough. Sora was only now realizing that wasn’t normal, rather was considered abuse in the eyes of pretty much everyone else. Sora had to wonder how much his dad’s treatment of him (which was both objectively and subjectively much worse) had played into Sora not recognizing it for what it was until multiple people pointed it out, as well as his subsequent denial of their claims.

Sora sighed. He had to stop thinking about this; it was only bringing him down, and he was supposed to be happy right now! They just needed to finish gathering supplies, then they’d return home and Sora would see Riku, and then the next day everyone would head to Radiant Garden to get Sora’s Heart Hotel people out of him and Naminé out of Kairi (which he was super excited about! Sora felt like he knew them all already, but technically he hadn’t actually met any of them in-person aside from brief contact in dreams. Well, except Naminé, but Sora didn’t remember her so that didn’t count. Riku even knew Roxas much better than Sora knew the blonde. Hell, basically everyone in Sora’s immediate friend group knew at least one of his heart people better than him! Lea, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Aqua all knew Ventus; Riku and Lea knew Roxas; Kairi, Riku, Lea, and Mickey all knew Naminé—Riku to the point that he had practically become best friends with her! Of course, they didn’t yet know who the final person was, but Sora had a sneaking suspicion people would know her, too… wait, her?).

A soft knock sounded on the door, and Sora jumped out of his brief reverie, realizing his fingers were pruned; he’d been in the shower for longer than expected, probably longer than the half hour Kairi and Lea had said they’d be down there. Fuck.

“Sora?” Kairi called. “Everything okay?”

“Still in the shower!” Sora yelled, although he was unsure if she could hear him through both the bathroom door and room door; he was pretty sure he could only hear her due to his vampire hearing.

“We’re coming in now, okay?” Kairi alerted him (again, nice contrast from Donald’s method). She used her keyblade to unlock the door and pattered into the room, followed by Lea (Sora could tell by the footsteps).

“I’m still in the shower! Sorry!” Sora called again, hurrying to finish washing the shampoo out of his hair which he’d probably let sit too long.

“Oh! No, we’re sorry!” Kairi told him. “We can leave if you want.”

“No, it’s okay,” Sora said as he turned the shower off and stepped out of the tub. “I brought my clothes in here.” He quickly used an aero spell to dry his hair before hurriedly pulling on his magical clothing.

“Sorry about that,” Sora said sheepishly as he left the bathroom. “I, er, kinda got distracted, you know how my thoughts can wander.”

Kairi giggled. “Oh yes, definitely.” She reached up to Sora’s hair and began to sort it out for him. “This is a mess! How often do I need to tell you not to dry it with ‘aero’?”

“But it’s so much faster than a hair dryer!” Sora argued.

“Then just let it air dry; your hair is short enough,” Lea pitched in.

Sora groaned. “Seriously? It’s just hair!”

Kairi pursed her lips as she stepped back and put her fists on her hips. “Oh, no, mister, we are not arguing this again. ‘Just’ hair? Hair is the first thing people notice about a person! You need to keep it nice!” Her eyes then got a dangerous glint to them as she grinned slyly. “You want Riku to think you look nice, right?”

“That’s a low blow, Kairi,” Sora chided, aiming for sounding put-out but his barely-hidden laugh thwarted the attempt. So he changed tactics. “So, how about that girl in Twilight Town?” Sora asked. “Does she think your hair looks nice?”

Kairi’s face instantly turned tomato-red and she mumbled something indistinct (impressive; usually Sora's vampire hearing let him hear mumbled speech perfectly fine).

“She hasn’t actually talked to her yet,” Lea said to Sora in a stage whisper.

“Well, there hasn’t been a chance!” Kairi argued. “And, what if she’s not even into girls? And if she is why would she be into me?”

“So the fact that whenever BOTH of you see each other you make googly-eyes isn’t enough proof that she is undoubtedly into you?” Lea asked, raising an eyebrow. “Seriously, she probably has the same doubts; at this rate, you two are going to be worse to watch than Riku and Sora were!”

“Hey, I’m right here you know!” Sora complained lightheartedly. “But seriously, Kairi, go for it. That’s the only way you’ll find out; she’s probably thinking the same things about you, from what it sounds like.”

“I guess,” Kairi muttered, still highly embarrassed, before unabashedly changing the subject. “Anyway, let’s go, okay? We’ve got stuff to do.”

“Right,” Sora agreed, deciding to spare Kairi. He pulled the list of items from his pocket. “Next we need to stop by—um. Next, Lea is going to have to stop by—”

“What? Only me? Why?” Lea asked, baffled.

“Because Kairi and I are wanted criminals in San Fransokyo,” Sora told him.

“Oh, right. Well, what’s on the list? We can probably get whatever it is here.”

“No, Yen Sid was very specific about what items he wants!” Kairi reminded them. “I am not doing another week of book studies for buying the wrong type of pillows!”

“I doubt it’ll be that bad,” Lea said skeptically. “It’s pillows.”

“Better safe than sorry though, especially with him,” Sora asserted. He did not want another week of book studies either (especially when so close to getting their heart people freed!).

Lea sighed. “Fine, you have a point. Drop me off there, and you can get the last item—that was also in a different world, right?”

Sora looked at the list. “Oh!” He grinned. “Yes, it is,” he said, turning to Kairi; as fate would have it, the last location was, of course, Twilight Town.

“Why do I feel uneasy about that expression?” Kairi asked tepidly.

Lea, looking over Sora’s shoulder, grinned too. “Oh, I am not missing this. New plan: screw Yen Sid’s pillows. Kairi, you are going to ask that girl out today."

**Author's Note:**

> I know Sora seems to recover faster than expected after such an incident; before anyone mentions that, it's because he doesn't remember what happened in the rage-form and there was no evidence when he woke. He only learned of the events second-hand from Riku, so although he's disturbed by it, it's not nearly to the extent of if he'd remembered it. Also, he knows it was a dream so he knows he didn't actually hurt anyone.
> 
> Next entry will be the one with the heart-people this time, I promise! (despite the ending to this, I am not writing a Twilight Town fic; whether Kairi succeeds or not will be mentioned next fic but not shown.)
> 
> (Note: This series is on temporary hiatus; it'll resume, I promise, and I am working diligently on it, but between this, my other WIPs, and general work I was getting overwhelmed so I need to take a step back and move slower on some things; the only fic/series with regular updates right now will be "An Unlikely Alliance". The others will be sporadic with long gaps. Follow me on Twitter (CaitSidhe4) for updates and more!)


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